The Hollies'
Greatest Hits, released on
EMI in 2003, has 47 songs spread over two discs. It covers the band's career from hitmaking beat group all the way up to a new song recorded expressly for this release. The one thing that has remained a constant in the group throughout is its incredible harmonies. Expect to be regularly blown away as you work your way through the disc, although you may wonder at the track list. The criteria for inclusion on the collection is that the song had to chart somewhere in the world, hence the inclusion of songs that don't seem like hits but actually were, like the band's cover of
Peter, Paul & Mary's
"Very Last Day" from 1965, which reached number one in Sweden, or
"Write On" from 1975, which reached number 31 in Germany. The majority of the collection consists of songs that made the U.S. and U.K. charts, so alongside the questionable inclusions are many big worldwide smashes like the number one hit
"Bus Stop," "Stop Stop Stop," "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress," "Carrie Anne," "Look Through Any Window," "On a Carousel," and
"The Air That I Breathe." You may also wonder about the collection's running order. Instead of compiling the tracks chronologically, the compiler,
Tim Chacksfield, chose to go the illogical route and throw the tracks together somewhat randomly. This leads to such jarring juxtapositions as the heavy heavy
ballad from 1969
"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" leading into the frothy
pop of 1966's
"Bus Stop," or the ringing
country-
psych pop of
"What's Wrong with the Way I Live" from 1966 butting up against
"Lonely Hobo Lullaby," a ridiculous
Neil Diamond-esque ballad from 1974.
This blending of eras mainly highlights just how much better
the Hollies were in their first incarnation (with
Graham Nash) than they were once
Nash left. They were still a decent band (those harmonies), but the songs are a definite letdown. If you don't mind sorting through the chaff to get to the wheat, this collection is OK. Better to seek out a used copy of
the Hollies' essential
Thirtieth Anniversary Collection: 1963-1993. It places much more emphasis on the '60s material, doesn't limit itself to just the hits, and merely touches upon the highlights of the band's '70s music. The two collections do share one terrible flaw; they both include a newly recorded song. The 1993 rendition of
"Purple Rain" from
Thirtieth Anniversary Collection is pretty frightening, but the new song on
Greatest Hits is horrifying.
"How Do I Survive" is a light
rock disaster so bad that it is a disgrace to have
the Hollies' name attached to it. (It becomes even stranger when one sees that former
Move frontman
Carl Wayne is involved, too.) That song is the last straw on a disc that could have been a very nice career-spanning collection for one of the great unappreciated bands, but instead is a terrific disappointment. ~ Tim Sendra
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